


Player One

by toothIess



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Adorkable Leo, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 02:18:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14368779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toothIess/pseuds/toothIess
Summary: I often wondered what it would be like if Leo would get around to playing video games. Takes place during 01x07





	Player One

Leo Elster was chewing on the nail of his index finger with his gaze transfixed outside of the window in the Hawkins residence. He was unsure about how long he had been staring in a trans like that, but it gave him the perfect opportunity to think about what had happened.

While the boys were loudly cheering and clapping during their video games Leo did his best to focus on his own thoughts. He was convinced that the Hawkings family weren’t exactly pleased with the all the Elster synth’s staying at their house. They could pretend that they weren’t bothered by it, but Leo had seen the resentment in Joe’s eyes so clearly when they had arrived here.

This was the reason why Leo was basically counting down the hours while Max continued with charging on the kitchen table. From where he was seated in the living room he could see his brother lying there which was an unsettling sight. He still couldn’t phantom that Max had been so selfless to let himself fall from the bridge. Leo had been out of himself as he and Fred had desperately searched the shores of the river. He hadn’t allowed himself to hold onto any false hope when they had found Max washed up on the shores. The chance of Max his brain not having gained any damaged from having been without battery and in the water was slim. There was still a chance that he could lose one of the people that meant the world to him scared him beyond believe.

Leo did his best to envision other things in his mind but the image of Max empty body kept reappearing and it frightened him more than he could admit. Max had always been there to scold Leo whenever he went out of line, but also if Leo needed someone to simply talk with. Max was his brother. Leo made a mental vow to himself to let Max know how important he to him when he would wake him.

 _If he would wake up_ , Leo venomously corrected himself. He hated himself for even thinking something so tragic, but he had to stay realistic.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when something was being tossed into his lap. His staring was interrupted as he looked down to see that it was a controller of the Playstation that Fred and Toby had been playing on. The two of them saw how Leo studied the controller for a moment, wondering what it was doing there precisely.

"Come on," Toby said. "You can play a game if you want to."

Leo pressed his lips together. "I don’t play games," he replied slowly, empathising his words.

"What never?"

"No, never."

Toby exchanged a quick glance with Fred who nodded. "Then what is it that you usually do for fun?"

  
_Fun._ Leo couldn’t exactly recall the last time that he had partaken in some sort of amusement. He had always been so invested with his siblings that he hardly ever had found the time to sit down to keep himself entertained.

"Leo isn’t exactly the person to play video games," Fred answered. "He has never once joined us during play sessions."

"Surely you must be curious about what it would be like," Toby figured.

Leo shook his head. "Not quite."

"Perhaps you should play a game with us to see what you’d think about it," Toby suggested as he got up to put the disc of another game into the Playstation. He sat down again. "This is a shooting game and it isn’t altogether difficult. I’m sure a novice like you can manage."

Leo wasn’t sure if he should be offended by the fact that he just been called a novice or not, but he didn’t say anything about it. Instead he doubtfully picked up the controller, not being positive about how to precisely hold it in his hands. It felt peculiar and he was sure that the boys would laugh when they saw how clumsily he was holding it.

"Okay," Leo then said, which earned their attention. "I guess one game won’t hurt." Since they had to stay here at the Hawkings residence until Max had fully charged Leo had nothing else to do than to wait. This way he could at least try this way of enjoyment that so many people enjoyed in this society.

Toby smirked at his answer. "I’ll put the settings to easy and I’ll join your team so you won’t have to face your opponents alone. That way you stand a better chance of not dying."

Leo narrowed his eyes as Toby rambled on and began to explain him the controls that he needed to use. The kid was too elated and was speaking at a rather rapid pace that created some complications for Leo since he had misheard most of what had been said.

Their game started and Leo observed the television screen where their opponents appeared. He struggled to make his character move and had accidentally ended up into a wall.

"Leo, you’re not supposed to crush the controller like that," Fred reminded him with mirth in his voice. "You’ll break it if you keep doing that."

"Sorry," he mumbled in return as he adjusted his grip on the controller.

He focused his attention back on the screen as an opponent from the other team started to shoot at his character. Unsure what to do Leo tried to dodge their bullets until suddenly his entire screen went black.

"What happened?" Leo ghastly asked."Why can’t I see anything anything?"

"You just died," Toby replied, trying to mask his smile. "You are supposed to shoot back at them, Leo. That’s the entire point of the game after all."  
"How on earth was I to know? It’s not like I’ve played it before."

"It’s basic logic of video games, " Fred answered with a chuckle. "You’ve only lasted twenty seconds before you got killed which is rather sad."

"Let me try again," Leo insisted, suddenly feeling determined to prove to them that he could actually do this. He wasn’t going to become a laughingstock to them. I just need more practice that’s all. I’m sure I can manage the controls pretty easily."

"Alright. We’ll play another round," Toby gleefully replied. "I’m curious to see how this is going to enfold. Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two."

Leo clutched his controlled his controller a bit tighter for a better grip as a new game began. This time he knew how to move his character around without any difficulty. That wasn’t the hardest part of this game. That seemed to be dodging bullets and killing as much of his opponents as he could. Leo clumsily kept pressing on the fire button while buttons fired all over the screen.

"It seems that Leo has killed someone," Fred casually said, enjoying this more than should. He didn’t mind that he wasn’t participating in this game because this gave him the opportunity to observe Leo’s struggles.

"Ha!" Leo let out a laugh at that accomplishment. He was allowed to revel in this moment.

"Leo, you’re dead again," Toby made clear.

Leo hadn’t even seen he his character had gotten shot because he had been too preoccupied with his first actual kill in a video game. He lowered his controller as he let out an expressed breath.

"You came pretty far this time though," Fred said, somewhat amazed. "I’ll have you know that the first couple of times that I played video games went somewhat similar to this, which is pretty normal, Leo. You cannot expect to be skilled at a game when you’ve never played before."

"I’ve tried, lads," Leo muttered in dismay.

"I can tell that you were rather enjoying yourself while you were playing," Toby affirmed with a smug grin. "I suggest that you just keep playing."

Leo knew for sure that he had relished in this, even though that it had resulted into a quick disaster. He had realized that it had been rather entertaining and a part of him wanted to keep going now that he had the chance.

"Can I play another round?" Leo asked instead.

Toby and Fred exchanged a look before both bursting into laughter. "Yeah, sure, " Fred said. "Only this time I’ll be on your team."

"Well, that’s good," Leo replied with a chuckle. "I guess that I could use all the practice."


End file.
